“I felt like this was something we needed to put behind us and move on,” Ramsey said. “I didn’t want to be talking about this in March or April.”

Senate Bill 142 would allow the 371,800 Tennesseans who hold carry permits — as well as those from outside the state whose permits are recognized here — to take their weapons to work, if they keep them locked in trunks, glove compartments or other containers. The bill also includes language meant to protect employers from lawsuits in the event of a workplace shooting or theft.

The vote came less than two months after the Newtown, Conn., shooting. The massacre was invoked by both sides.

“The first thing we do is talk about guns,” said Sen. Thelma Harper, D-Nashville. “There has to be another way.”

Sen. Mark Green, R-Clarksville, quoted an argument made popular by the National Rifle Association.

“What this bill does is it allows guns in places where they’ve been prohibited,” he said. “The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”

All 26 Republicans in the Senate voted for the measure, though they have been deeply divided over the issue in the past. Some have argued that businesses should have the right to decide whether guns should be allowed on their property, while others have said the right to carry has no meaning if gun owners cannot take their weapons to and from the place they visit most.

Two of the chamber’s seven Democrats — Memphis Sen. Ophelia Ford and Jackson Sen. Lowe Finney — also voted for the measure.

Quick resolution

The issue was expected to rise to the top of the legislature’s agenda this year even before the Newtown shooting. Last fall, the third-ranking Republican in the state House of Representatives, Debra Maggart of Hendersonville, lost her bid for re-election after the National Rifle Association bankrolled her opponent in the GOP primary, blaming the incumbent for the measure’s failure to pass the legislature last spring.

Ramsey and House Speaker Beth Harwell, R-Nashville, have said they want a quick resolution to the issue this year. But they deny acting under pressure from gun rights groups, arguing that they have been focused on fighting federal restrictions on guns.

Business groups and education institutions continue to oppose the measure. Some gun rights advocates are displeased with the bill, too, saying it contains loopholes.

But the bill’s sponsor in the state House of Representatives, Republican Rep. Jeremy Faison of Cosby, said he does not plan to make any changes when that chamber begins debate on companion legislation later in the week.

“We’re going to pass the same version of the bill, Lord willing,” he said. “Three weeks from now, we’ll have it on the House floor. I think we’ll have the same bill.”